Introducing the successor to the well known ‘Yummy’, this car known as DJ is basically a re-shell of Yummy as nearly all parts following the now infamous ‘lampost’ incident survived the impact. 

Late Spec Levin AE92 engine with custom intercooler ducting and stainless induction and intercooler hard pipes. See Bearding for details.

Latest addition are Yokohama Advan LTS tyres which are developed by Lotus for the Elise and 340R. They seem to work very well indeed on the MK1

Tech Spec

Engine: 195Bhp 180lb/ft Torque

late Spec 1990 4A-GZE from Toyota Levin imported from Japan by Fensport 
8.9:1 compression ratio
distributorless twin coil ignition
Fensport Hybrid 176mm oversized crank pulley
K&N Air filter
Magnex stainless steel exhaust
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
custom intercooler hard pipes in stainless steel
custom induction piping in stainless steel
custom intercooler ducting fabricated by me
battery relocated to front boot

Gearbox

E51 Supercharger gearbox with TRD plate type LSD

Suspension/Chassis

Koni adjustable dampers
Fensport 20% uprated 30mm lower springs
Superflex polyurethane bushes throughout
12mm front anti-roll bar
10mm rear anti-roll bar
front camber 0.5 deg negative
front castor set to maximum
rear camber 1.0 deg negative
front & rear toe set to OEM
15" alloy wheels with 195/50/15 Yokohama Advan Neova LTS
EBC Greenstuff pads on front
EBC Blackstuff pads on rear
Disc dust shields removed front and rear for improved cooling

Interior/Body

Sparco FIA six-point harness
Interior is stripped of carpet, sound deadening and trim (see stripperage)
boost gauge
custom air side scoop fabricated by me
clear indicator lenses
clear sidelight lenses
rear and three-quarter windows tinted
windscreen strip to reduce glare

 

The search was now on to find a replacement. Yummy was a t-bar and as I have been known to do the odd trackday (!) I wanted to focus on buying a coupe for a number of reasons. Mainly because a coupe is around 40kgs lighter than a t-bar and has the added benefit of greater chassis rigidity. Furthermore they are also cheaper as for some mad reason, t-bars are generally preferred for their ‘roofless glamour’. This of course suited me well and the search was well and truly on.

Initially I was looking for a coupe with engine problems but good bodywork. The trouble is that mechanically MR2s are fairly robust, but unfortunately the bodywork doesn’t share this characteristic. After being pretty disappointed to find that most cheap 2’s with mechanical problems seemed to go hand in hand with bodywork problems too, I opted to cut my losses and just get the best example I could for a reasonable price. I could of course always sell the engine and box if they were good and at least I would double up on parts.

After a few weeks I decided on a white coupe that I call ‘DJ’ (after the numberplate). Chassis wise this car is pretty sound and the paintwork looked good too. To top it all it drove very well and looked to be pretty clean throughout. I ended up running DJ around in standard form for about two months and drove 4000miles with no problems apart from, exhaust fell off and the radiator failed! Not quite what I needed but I simply put on the spare Magnex from Yummy and bought a new rad. 

Pic showing DJ after 3 days of ownership! Wheels and window tint and windscreen strip already added.

At various points the wheels off Yummy went on and a new set of Eagle F1s to boot. We (Mark and I) changed the suspension and put the Fensport springs/Adjustable Koni set-up on. This of course vastly improved the handling.

More to come, see beard index